Energy is vital, and the source of energy is obviously equally important. It's important to always ask questions such as, where does our energy come from? and is there a stable supply? These are questions we all know the answers to, but form many the answer creates so many issues, they prefer not to think about the issues and ignore them. Society needs to take advantage of alternative energy resources, as our current sources of energy are not stable or sufficient to meet even our current needs, never mind our future needs. Fossil fuels have grown modern society to the high standards of comfort we currently take for granted, however as many now appreciate the daily costs of living using fossil fuels is become less affordable every day. Therefore we need to embrace alternative energy resources to move away from fossil fuels, so what are the alternative energy resources that are available to use. There are resources such as wind, wave and solar which we must take advantage of however, they cannot provide energy on demand and we need to use all practical forms of alternative energy so we are no longer reliant and vulnerable to one source of energy as we are currently with fossil fuels.

Local Alternative Energy Fuel Resources

As well as wind, wave and solar there is another alternative energy resource that is available to us, biomass energy. Biomass energy includes sourcing energy from wood, grasses and any other type of organic matter which we can use to generate energy. It is not efficient, practical or affordable to transport biomass over long distances, therefore the best option is to look at what biomass resources are available locally, and use those to produce energy where appropriate. There are several factors to consider before using certain biomass materials. Many food crops are generalized as biomass energy, and though this is true, it is not ethical to use the food part of the crop to produce energy. However, there is a large proportion of the crop which cannot be used for food which is leftover after harvest. This includes for example the straw, which in many countries is still burnt in the field as it is see only as a waste material. Straw is a very low density material, and very hard to burn efficiently in its raw state, therefore the best option is to compress the straw into pellet form.

The Advantages Of The Pellet Fuel Form

Once the biomass material, for example straw is compressed into pellet form, much higher combustion temperatures can be achieved, which has two main benefits. Firstly more heat is captured from the fuel, and also smoke and particulate emissions are practically eliminated. This means cleaner air, and also means the combustion units needs to be cleaned much less often, reducing the manual maintenance.

How To Make Wood Pellets For Fuel

So how is the straw of any other biomass material compressed into pellet form. Well, the most common term to describe the equipment is a pellet mill. A pellet mill features a series of rollers which force the straw through a die template to make the pellet fuel shape.

PelHeat Wood Pellet Production Guide

At PelHeat we have many years of experience in pellet production, and we provide a pellet production consultation service. The PelHeat guide download will show you how to make wood and other fuel pellets.